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About Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team (HOT)

Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team (HOT) sits at the nexus of participatory mapping, community-led development, humanitarian response, open data and tech. With a talented and diverse team spread around the globe, HOT is an NGO which supports a dynamic global community of thousands of dedicated volunteers using maps and open data for humanitarian response and the Sustainable Development Goals. 

Working with humanitarian and development partners like the Red Cross, Médecins Sans Frontières, UN agencies, governments and others, the HOT community maps in solidarity with those affected by or at risk of disaster, contributing the maps and data aid workers need to do their lifesaving work. In 2020, the work of the HOT community was recognized by TED’s Audacious Project, a collaborative philanthropic initiative that serves as a springboard for social impact on a grand scale, leading to an exciting new phase of growth. HOT is expanding its activities: opening four regional hubs and scaling up its support to local mapping communities with the audacious goal of mapping an area home to one billion people in 94 countries at high risk of disasters or experiencing poverty – mapping with communities before they are in crisis.

About the Role

HOT is looking for an experienced regional director in the tech & data for good space to join our senior management team as HOT’s first Regional Director for West Africa. The position will serve as HOT’s most senior representative in the West Africa region, and is one of four Regional Directors globally; serving Latin America and the Caribbean, West Africa, East Africa, and South/East Asia and Pacific. As part of our five-year Audacious Project vision to map an area home to one billion people affected by disasters or multidimensional/extreme poverty, the Regional Director is responsible for developing and executing a strategy for expanding the use of free, open, and accessible geospatial data to 25 countries in West Africa over a period of 4-5 years. 

The Regional Director will oversee a regional hub where approximately 13 staff work across HOT’s partnerships, community engagement, microgrants, technical assistance, communications, and technology innovation teams. Reporting to HOT’s Director of Transformation & Community, the RD will lead HOT’s work to achieve our Audacious Project vision in West Africa.

Duties and Responsibilities

• Adapt, localize and apply HOT’s global strategy to the region, while coordinating and liaising with the HOT Global team and Regional Directors in other regions.
• Setup and development of HOT’s regional presence in West Africa, including a physical regional hub office location.
• Direct a regional team of approximately 13 staff, including management of finances, HR, and regional hub location administration and logistics for the regional team. Line manager responsibilities (hiring, performance management) for all regional team members.
• Direct the support and growth of OpenStreetMap and open mapping communities in all countries that are part of the region, including provision and management of (small) grants, sustainability planning, training, and technical assistance in conjunction with the Regional Hub community team.
• Manage and develop local and regional partnerships with disaster management agencies, national statistical offices/mapping agencies, ministries of health, I/NGOs, and other partners in conjunction with a Regional Hub Partnerships Manager and global partnerships team.
• Manage and build relationships with donors and other partners in the region and coordinate regional new business development.
• Represent HOT regionally at the national and international level, leading and supervising the organization of meetings, workshops and other partnership engagements, and presenting at conferences.

Skills and Experience

Essential:

• 10+ years work experience in a country in the region the West Africa hub will serve, with work experience in multiple countries in the region.
  Demonstrated passion and career experience in digital development/ICT4D or data.
• Work experience at a senior management or director level with experience managing teams of at least 7 people, and budgets of at least $200,000 USD annually. At least ten years of work experience.
• Entrepreneurial: thrives in a startup-like environment, enjoys building teams and strategy.
• Well-connected: ongoing personal relationships with leadership at multiple regional NGOs and ideally a significant history of projects involving government data users.
• Clear, influential communicator and comfort with high-profile public speaking and engagement.
• Demonstrated successes working in open source technology and open data projects; GIS and OpenStreetMap experience a plus but not required.
• Fluency in French and English.

Desirable:

• Experience working in/with open source projects/products/platforms, and prior experience with OpenStreetMap.
• Prior experience in organizations with geospatial and/or data at the core of their work.
• Prior experience working with institutional and philanthropic donors
• Additional languages. 
• Experience managing a team working across multiple countries.
• If you don’t meet all these criteria but would still like to apply, please get in touch. We would love to learn more about you and help to determine if your profile would make a good application.

More information on the HOT salary scale is available here: https://www.hotosm.org/salaries